Security News

China caught – again – with its malware in another nation's power grid
2023-09-12 23:59

'Obtaining a disruptive capability could be one possible motivation behind this surge in attacks' Espionage-ware thought to have been developed by China has once again been spotted within the...

Microsoft Confronts China-based Storm-0558, Apple Issues Patches for Pegasus Spyware
2023-09-08 23:15

It's a cat-and-mouse struggle as tech giants Microsoft and Apple deal with persistent threats from China state actors and Pegasus spyware. Revelations this week from Microsoft and Apple speak to the COVID-like persistence of cyber threats and the ability of threat actors to adapt in the wild, steal credentials and sidestep patches.

Microsoft, recently busted by Beijing, thinks it's across China's ever-changing cyber-offensive
2023-09-08 06:32

Microsoft, which earlier this week admitted not being able to detect a Chinese attack on its own infrastructure, has published a report [PDF] titled "Digital threats from East Asia increase in breadth and effectiveness." In the report, Redmond's Threat Intelligence group expounds on its fresh insight into evolving online aggressions from both China and North Korea. The report details the work of a group Microsoft has named "Raspberry Typhoon" that "Typically conducts intelligence collection and malware execution" and likes to target ministries that oversee defense, intelligence, economic matters, and trade.

China reportedly bans iPhones from more government offices
2023-09-07 05:28

Analysis Chinese authorities have reportedly banned Apple's iPhones from some government offices. News of Beijing's ban was reported by the Wall Street Journal, which mentioned people familiar with the matter as having said employees at some central government regulators were told not to use iPhones for work or bring them into the office.

Microsoft: China stole secret key that unlocked US govt email from crash debug dump
2023-09-06 22:59

Mistakes were made, lessons learned, stuff now fixed, says Windows maker Remember that internal super-secret Microsoft security key that China stole and used to break into US government email...

Meta Takes Down Thousands of Accounts Involved in Disinformation Ops from China and Russia
2023-09-05 06:17

Meta has disclosed that it disrupted two of the largest known covert influence operations in the world from China and Russia, blocking thousands of accounts and pages across its platform. The network, which included 7,704 Facebook accounts, 954 Pages, 15 Groups and 15 Instagram accounts, is said to have been run by "Geographically dispersed operators" across China, posting content about China and its province Xinjiang, criticism of the U.S, Western foreign policies, and critics of the Chinese government.

China-Linked BadBazaar Android Spyware Targeting Signal and Telegram Users
2023-08-30 13:43

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered malicious Android apps for Signal and Telegram distributed via the Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store that are engineered to deliver the BadBazaar spyware on infected devices. Slovakian company ESET attributed the campaign to a China-linked actor called GREF. "Most likely active since July 2020 and since July 2022, respectively, the campaigns have distributed the Android BadBazaar espionage code through the Google Play store, Samsung Galaxy Store, and dedicated websites representing the malicious apps Signal Plus Messenger and FlyGram," security researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a new report shared with The Hacker News.

Meta reckons China's troll farms could learn proper OpSec from Russia's fake news crews
2023-08-30 00:58

Claims to have taken down two colossal networks, with 'Secondary Infektion' schooling 'Spamouflage' Russia appears to be "better" at running online trolling campaigns aimed at pushing its...

Taiwanese infosec researchers challenge Microsoft's China espionage finding
2023-08-28 02:58

PLUS: India calls for global action on AI and crypto; Vietnam seeks cybersecurity independence; China bans AI prescribing drugs Asia In Brief Taiwan-based infosec consultancy Team T5 has disputed...

Friday Squid Blogging: China’s Squid Fishing Ban Ineffective
2023-08-25 21:06

China imposed a "Pilot program banning fishing in parts of the south-west Atlantic Ocean from July to October, and parts of the eastern Pacific Ocean from September to December." However, the conservation group Oceana analyzed the data and figured out that the Chinese weren't fishing in those areas in those months, anyway. Blockquote>In the south-west Atlantic moratorium area, Oceana found there had been no fishing conducted by Chinese fleets in the same time period in 2019.